Merry Margaret by Herbert Howells sung by Philip Langridge

Merry Margaret by Herbert Howells sung by Philip Langridge accompanied by Eric Parkin.

Philip Langridge entered the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1958, his ambition was to be a violinist; he retained an instrumentalist's approach to his music throughout his career, maintaining unfailing respect for the musical line of a piece, whether he was singing solo or in ensemble. Langridge's effects, if one may call them that, were all the more powerful for being utterly lyrical, no matter how thorny the challenge. Surely no other artist imbued Moses und Aron with Langridge's charismatic purity of intention, a quality that made Schoenberg's music sound compellingly beautiful.
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Langridge started vocal studies "just for fun," as he recalled it, at RAM in 1962; his professional singing career began in earnest when he was hired as a member of the Glyndebourne chorus, just two years later. The twenty-four-year-old tenor's official Glyndebourne debut, as a Footman in Capriccio, commenced an association with the company that would enrich the rest of his working life: subsequent Glyndebourne appearances for Langridge ranged from Mozart's Don Ottavio (1977, '78), Idomeneo (1983 and 2003) and Tito (1991) to Pelegrin, the space pilot, in the European premiere of Michael Tippett's New Year (1990) and Kong in the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's The Second Mrs. Kong (1994).

An early credit during Langridge's journeyman years was the Aldeburgh Festival, where he sang in the St. John Passion under Benjamin Britten; the tenor's affinity for Britten's music would culminate in the 1980s and '90s with a series of revelatory performances at English National Opera, Covent Garden and elsewhere as Peter Grimes, Quint in The Turn of the Screw, Captain Vere in Billy Budd and — in what many regarded as his finest achievement in the theater — the dying Aschenbach in Death in Venice, whose tragic loss of inspiration Langridge illuminated with courage and conviction. Another composer whom Langridge served particularly well was Leoš Janáček; his incisive performance as the embittered composer Živný in David Pountney's 1984 staging of Osud for ENO won Langridge an Olivier Award, and he was also much admired as Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case at ENO, as Skuratov in From the House of the Dead at the Salzburg Festival and as Laca in Jenůfa at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne and Théâtre du Châtelet.

Langridge had a long list of successes at both ENO and the Royal Opera. At the Coliseum, he was hailed as Vere in ENO's first Billy Budd, as Berlioz's Bénédict and in the world premiere of Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus; at Covent Garden, his highly varied repertoire included Jupiter in Handel's Semele, Loge in Das Rheingold, the title role in Pfitzner's Palestrina, the King of Naples in the world premiere of Adès's The Tempest, Hierius in the world premiere of Birtwistle's The Minotaur, in 2008, and Prince/Manservant/Marquis in a new staging of Lulu, in 2009. At the time of his death, Langridge was scheduled to sing a leading role in the 2011 ROH world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera on the life of Anna Nicole Smith. He was a regular visitor to the Edinburgh Festival and to Scottish Opera, where he sang the Sinner in the 1976 world premiere of Thomas Wilson's Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Langridge's international success accelerated after his Milan debut, as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress, in 1979; within the next decade, he had sung his first performances at the Salzburg Festival and the Met; he also made notable appearances in Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Aix-en-Provence, Pesaro, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Sydney, as well as at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, where he was Oedipus in Julie Taymor's award-winning production of Oedipus Rex in 1992.
Despite a relatively small number of appearances at the Met — some sixty-four performances over a span of nearly twenty-five years — Langridge was a favorite at that house, where he made his debut in 1985, as Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte. New York also heard him as Shuisky in Boris Godunov, Loge, Peter Grimes, Captain Vere, and as Aron, which he sang in the 1999 Met premiere of Schoenberg's opera and in two subsequent revivals. The 2007 Met premiere of Richard Jones's Hansel and Gretel staging marked his role debut as Humperdinck's Witch — not surprisingly the only role he had in common with his wife, mezzo Ann Murray, who survives him.
Langridge was a consummate artist who conducted himself with modesty and good humor; throughout his career, he remained grateful for his success, never taking it for granted and never taking himself too seriously. His performances were remarkable, but no more so than the man himself. Onstage and offstage, Philip Langridge was a gentleman of astonishing grace.

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